Reintroduction
by Schuyler Lola
Summary: Larry returns from the monastery...post Janus List. [LM]


**Disclaimer: **No. I don't own anything to do with NUMB3RS. Besides the DVDs.

**A/N: **This seems to have taken off on me…call this a piece in the series I have yet to name…it's a follow-up to **Falling From a Cloud**, set after the Janus List. It's a very interesting place; Larry's mind…Megan's isn't too boring either…

Reintroduction

The morning sunlight was slanting onto her face, he remembers, and he watched her from across the room. Larry felt a strange spark of glee, knowing that she didn't know he was there. He had slipped in her apartment that night. She had been asleep on the couch, the TV flickering softly. He had shut it off, wanting her to sleep. Megan had looked more than a surface kind of tired, the kind of fatigue that settled into a person's bones and wreaked havoc with their mental state. She looked that state of exhaustion, yet there was a strange serenity on her face. He had stayed his distance, letting her sleep, knowing that sunlight would wake her soon enough.

Megan had felt the warm light on her face, registering that it was morning. She had felt his presence with her, before she had even opened her eyes. She wasn't a fully trained FBI agent with killer intuition for nothing. She had let him think that she didn't know he was there. She had wondered if he knew, knew what had happened, what had left her in such a state. For the first time in her life, she had felt so very old and very young at the same time. She had stretched, cat-like and blinked at him. She had said nothing.

He had studied her face, seeing it much more clearly now that she was awake. She had looked striking that morning, her hair hanging in loose curls around her face, her eyes a thoughtful green. He had just looked at her, waiting. Waiting to see what would happen. He hadn't known then; she was the first person he'd seen since coming back. He had driven straight to her apartment. He had heard rumblings of something major being stirred up FBI-wise, in the LA office, yet he had thought nothing of it. Don's team was impeccable at their work. Why would one even bother to suspect any of them?

The blanket had been pushed away; she had straightened the now-wrinkled clothes she'd gone to sleep in, and crossed the carpet, her feet skimming the floor. "_You're really here_," she had whispered, as if afraid someone would hear her. "_I can't believe you're here_."

He had pushed away the curl that had fallen in front of her face, drinking in her looks. "_I regret not being here for your return_," he had began, "_I wished to have -_"

"_Larry_," she had murmured, a trace of sad laughter in her voice, "_I'm sorry for not being here_."

He had looked at her with confusion. Why was she the one apologizing? Megan had been the one who was forced to go; otherwise she would have suffered the consequences that would have come with her refusing. "_Perhaps it was better this way_," he had suggested.

"_Perhaps_," she agreed, a strange light in her eye. "_Perhaps._"

"_Is there something the matter_?" he had queried. "_Something I said?_"

She had shaken her head emphatically. "_No._" She had wrapped her sweater around her body more tightly. "_Coffee_?"

"_Of course_." He watched her movements at the counter. She had been unnaturally focused on filling up the coffee machine. He had tried again. "_Megan._"

She had put down the coffee scoop with a shaking hand. Her eyes had tears in them now. He was more than disturbed at this new development. "_Megan, are you sure there's nothing the matter_?" he had asked, gently, trying not to sound too eager for information.

"_No_." She had put a death grip on the edge of the counter. "_I'm not sure_."

He had felt the distance between them, a void he wanted to fill desperately. With his limited knowledge of the human psyche, he had determined that she was indeed happy to see him, yet distancing herself at the same time. He had wanted to know what had been the cause of this new development. "_If you don't want to talk -_"

"_I want to_," she had murmured. "_I want to tell you_."

He had sensed the _but_ in her voice. "_Do you want to hear it_?" she had faltered, stepping back from him. He felt that this was potentially Earth-shattering, if it was damaging her ability to read others.

"_Yes, of course_." He leaned towards her.

She had taken a deep breath. At the same time, he had sworn that she had shrunk within the space of roughly 0.34 seconds. He couldn't possibly measure the time it had taken her to go from a sad yet still familiar Megan to someone he couldn't quite equate with the person he knew. "_I…I can't believe this is happening_," she half-joked, trying to put a lighter spin on the moment. She had slumped, then knowing he wasn't going to have it. "_Oh, Larry_," she whispered. "_We found out a couple of weeks ago…during a case_." She had swallowed then, looking even more upset than before. "_It's Colby_…_he's been working as a Chinese spy all along_."

He had stared at her, trying to determine what exactly it was that she had said. Her eyes looked scared now, waiting for a reaction. He had tried not to react. She needed someone to hold onto, and he had promised to step up to the plate. His reaction had to wait, while she came to terms with the situation.

He sat at the koi pond _chez _Eppes now, running his fingers through the water, thinking about the day's events. He felt much older than he had this morning. Holding onto to his own bewilderment and shock had been quite the ordeal for him. He had excused himself from the sombre group that had assembled at the Eppes house to try and give him a belated "Welcome back to Earth," party.

"Hey," a voice called to him. It was Megan, of course, wearing a brave smile. She sounded far better than she had all day.

He didn't answer her, yet she took it as an invitation to come sit beside him. Her head bent, her neck arched; he smiled at the graceful, lovely image she provided him.

Despite the chaos that was running through their collective lives, he couldn't help but think that she was the piece that finalized his reintroduction to Earth.


End file.
